Everett was beginning to understand why Justin was so scared. He searched the city for almost two hours, but Tony Stark seemed to evaporate. He drove to his home first, but no one opened the door for him, so he visited the Avengers compound. It was as empty as Stark mansion. He didn't learn anything useful at Stark Industries either. There he was only told that neither Tony Stark nor Miss Potts was in the building. He began to panic slightly. What kind of woman was she to kidnap the whole family? She couldn't do it alone. That was not possible, and he refused to believe it.
"Thank God I caught up with you!" he blurted out as he burst into the interrogation room, where Hammer was signing some papers.
"Where did you go? It is necessary to arrange a transfer to the Cube," Adam informed him a little scoldingly. The cube-type prison facility was out of their jurisdiction. And he was quite happy about that. He didn't want anything to do with it.
Everett just waved casually at him and sat down in a chair next to him. "Tell me immediately what you didn't tell me before, or I'll let you out and let her deal with you!" he growled at him menacingly.
"I- what are you talking about? I don't know about anything else," he said incomprehensibly and swallowed hard. "I just signed my resignation. If there was more, I would say-"
The minister pounded angrily on the table. "Do you think I'm completely stupid?!" he barked, snatching the papers from his hands, which he then tore. "Now speak!"
"Calm down, Everette," Adam said instead of their detainee. "What got into you?"
"What got into me? That he's kidding us all the time. It's not possible for him to spend so many months with her and know nothing!" He snapped. "I wanted to warn Stark, but it's probably too late because I can't find him anywhere. None of his family. Hammer is just holding us back. He is trying to divert attention," he accused the businessman with weapons. "And we were so stupid and believed him."
Justin gave him a shocked look. "I do not do that! I swear I have no idea what you're talking about," he tried to defend himself.
"You are upset. You used to be an expert at interrogation, you would know if he lied. You always knew that," he tried to reassure his friend. "Can you explain that?" he asked, staring at Justin. This was a reversal he certainly didn't expect, but he had to check.
"I want to trust you, really," Everett sighed as Justin said nothing. Plus, Adam was right. He was convinced he was telling the truth, but he still lacked a few pieces. "Am I to believe that she devised it all herself? Not possible. That guy is Iron Man!"
"I really don't know," Justin said. He himself was very taken aback by this situation at the moment and was desperately trying to remember something that would save him. That Teresa would know that he had been arrested and took advantage of it? That didn't sound like much to her. She had everything planned to the last dot.
"What day is today?" He said suddenly. "April 10?"
"Yes," Adam replied simply.
"Then I know where they are! Well, I don't know exactly where they are, but I know what they do. They have a wedding," he told them with relief.
Everett exchanged a distrustful look with Adam. "Tony Stark and Pepper Potts? We would probably know something about that, don't you think? "
"It would be full of media," Adam agreed. Both were media personalities. It would be a miracle to keep something like this a secret.
"Are you sure about that? They wanted a quiet wedding, do you think Stark can't arrange it? The question is how long their wedding will remain calm. Teresa had something planned, but I don't know what exactly. As I said, she wasn't very shared," he explained, praying that they would believe him, let him sign the statement again, and move him to the safety of the Cube.
There was a short non-verbal conversation between the agent and the minister. "If they really have a wedding, Colonel Rhodes will be there. He must have a military cell phone with him," he pointed out their only way to contact them.
"Go," Adam urged, waiting for the door to close behind him before turning his attention back to Justin.
•••
Peter washed his hands quickly and tried to dry them even faster. Soon the toast was coming, but he had to go to pee acutely, and now he was afraid he wouldn't make it. He couldn't miss Rhodey's awkward stories about Dad. He tossed the soaked paper towel and turned to the door, but before he could walk to it, his legs turned to jelly when he saw a person standing in them he was convinced was just Quentin's trick.
"Didn't you invite your own sister to the wedding? That hurts, Petey," the brunette grinned. Getting here was even easier than she thought. Everyone was disgustingly happy and not paying attention. They felt that happiness could not stop now. How naive.
"You're not real," he managed in a strangled voice.
"Am I not?" she asked amusedly. "Is that why you weren't looking for me?"
"This is not real. You're not here," he muttered to himself rather than to her, closing his eyes.
Teresa watched him with amusement in her eyes. This was even better than she expected. Unfortunately, she couldn't enjoy it for too long, because someone could catch them and she didn't want that. The right time has not yet come. First, she wanted to talk to her little brother. Only she and he and one small decision that Peter would have to make.
"I'd like to give you some time to come to terms with my existence, but unfortunately it can't be done," she told him, and he looked at her, startled. "Now I'll tell you what it will be like. You'll be a good brother and you'll come with me voluntarily and you won't try anything, okay? You don't want to ruin your parents' wedding, do you?"
"I'm not going anywhere with you," he said, trying to keep his voice firm, but he didn't succeed. This certainly didn't happen. Maybe he has mistaken his glass and drank alcohol, and this was just a delusion of his brain. This couldn't have been happening. Not today. Not here.
"Really? Would you rather I talked to someone else?" she asked a rhetorical question and pulled a gun from her jacket pocket. "Maybe with the bride? I haven't had time to congratulate her on her wedding."
"No!" He gasped. "I'll go."
"I thought so," she grinned, motioning for him to walk in front of her.
And as they moved away from the farm and deeper into the woods, the sounds of the ongoing celebration, to which the toast had just begun, slowly died away.
"Everyone you know Tony won't be surprised when I tell you that I didn't believe this day would ever happen," Rhodey began, and a few guests laughed. But before he could continue, the phone rang in his trouser pocket.
"And then who's the irresponsible one!" Tony grinned, earning a slap in the shoulder from Pepper.
"I apologize to everyone, it's from work. I have to take it, what if you started, Nat," Rhodey suggested, and the redhead gave him a frightened look. But the colonel did not wait for her consent and stepped a short distance from the others.
"Colonel Rhodes," he introduced himself as he answered.
"Colonel, this is Everett Ross. I hate to interrupt you at this happy time, but I wouldn't call if it wasn't serious. We have received information that a certain Teresa is seeking revenge on the Starks. We don't know much about it, but it should be Tony's son and she should supposedly be at the wedding," the new minister blurted out in one breathe.
"Are you sure?" He wanted to make sure and began to scan all guests. He didn't see anyone he didn't know, which was good news. The bad news was that he didn't see Peter. He noticed that Tony was watching him with a smaller wrinkle on his forehead, so he turned his back on him so as not to worry sooner than necessary.
"Honestly? I don't know what to think about it, but in the interrogation room, we have Justin Hammer, who is a little scared of the woman. He voluntarily allows himself to be locked in the Cube to be safe from her. I'm just telling you what he told us."
"Okay, thank you for the warning. I'll be careful," he ended their phone call and took a deep breath. This was bad. Really very bad. He didn't want to be a messenger of bad news, but somehow that role was always left to him.
He allowed himself another deep breath before breaking up with the newlyweds. Pepper listened to Natasha's toast with a smile on her face, but Tony watched him intently. It was clear to Rhodey that he already knew something was wrong. He knew someone had ruined their day.
"Haven't you seen Peter?" he whispered as he approached them.
Tony turned to where Peter was supposed to sit but found only an empty chair. "Tell me nothing's happening."
"You know lying has never been my forte," he sighed. "I guess we have a problem here."